Based on a new survey of local authorities, UK councils are planning to sell community centers, athletic facilities, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of assets to balance the books.
Increasing Fiscal Pressures Prompt Asset Sales
A coalition of councils for second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are intending to sell assets to cover the escalating costs of social services for vulnerable individuals.
Councils have previously come under fire for selling public land and land to support their finances, but they contend they must continue to generate essential revenue from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise restructuring services and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing fiscal pressures.”
Specific Examples of Proposed Sales
Medway Council in southeast England said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a retail complex in Rainham and a community venue in another town to generate £20m over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and business parks held in Worcestershire and Suffolk, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will additionally be disposed of under the plan.
Council Tax Increases and Wider Financial Strains
This research of councils in the key cities group, which covers several urban centers, further found that over seven in ten of authorities will have to increase local levies next April to address the rising cost of core provisions, higher levels of homelessness, and a longstanding accommodation deficit.
The authority said it will press ahead with property disposals after sharp increases in the cost of children services, special educational needs and disability (Send) provision, adult social care, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting innovative approaches but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and cost efficiency,” said Vince Maple.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will persist to increase the pressures we have. As a local government body, we had a drastic reduction in our revenue support grant from 2010-24, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Forecasts
A survey of county councils this week further found council budgets being stretched by the increasing figures of young people and adults requiring special educational assistance.
A network of councils said that council deficits will reach £4.4bn a year by 2029, as they struggle to cope with increased demand.
Government officials have put off planned reforms to the Send system until next year after a white paper outlining those changes was recently delayed.
Deprivation and Funding Gaps
Based on the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) for UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were included in the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns place in the most deprived 30 nationally under the 2025 IMD measures,” said the study.
“While only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for disadvantaged communities nationally, cities are much more prone to be in the worst-off 20% of England. The figures underscores the extent of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the coming year,” the analysis added.
“Local government leaders have been explicit about the need for a fair and sustainable financial structure that accounts for and responds to the actual extent of disadvantage and need,” said a council leader.
“Lacking this, councils will continue to face difficult decisions around which vital provisions to allocate spend to, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
One in five of councils have cut or compromised care services in the last year, the survey revealed.
